The present invention relates generally to a distributed network of hyperlinked documents. More particularly, the present invention relates to an electronic commerce system and method for referencing remote merchant sites or remote commerce sites at a local commerce site, and may be implemented on a distributed network of hyperlinked documents.
One type of distributed network on which the present invention may be implemented is the Internet. The Internet is an international internetwork of networks connecting millions of individual computer networks and computers. The Internet includes computer networks and computers interconnected to one another. Among these computers are client computers (hereinafter xe2x80x9cclientxe2x80x9d) and server computers (hereinafter xe2x80x9cserverxe2x80x9d). In the Internet, typically, a client may submit a client request to a server. A client also may submit data to a server. In response to this client request or data from the client, the server transmits data or a server response to the client. Clients and servers typically communicate over a TCP/IP (Transport Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) link using HTTP (HyperText Transport Protocol) messages, such as client requests and server responses. Other protocols besides TCP/IP and HTTP can be used instead for communications between servers and clients.
An HTTP message typically includes a header and a body. The header of an HTTP message typically includes control information of the HTTP message. The control information typically includes a data length entry of the header to correspond with the length of the data of the client request. The control information typically includes a protocol version of the HTTP message. One protocol version of HTTP messages is version 1.1. Another protocol version of HTTP messages is version 1.0.
The body of an HTTP message typically includes data of the HTTP message. The data transmitted from a server to a client may include a page or pages of text and information, such as graphic, video, or sounds, and/or references to pages which include such data. The pages may be written in a standard format, such as HyperText Markup Language (HTML). A website typically is a server which stores and transmits such pages to clients.
A server typically does not keep track of clients between client requests for pages or data directed to the server. The message protocol typically does not keep track of a client""s client requests. However, a server can pass an identification code to the client in response to one client request from the client, and, subsequently, can retrieve this identification code from the client in a subsequent client request to that server from that client. One way in which a server can do this is via cookies. The control information of an HTTP message may be made to include a cookie in the client request.
A cookie in a client-server network is a general mechanism which a server (typically via CGI scripts) can use to store and retrieve information on the client side of the connection in a client-server network. A cookie can be a small piece of information sent by a server or a site to store on a client so it can later be read back from that client. This is useful for having the client remember some specific information. Cookies may be used to store a consumer""s password and consumer ID for a particular server or site. They may also be used to store preferences of start pages. Both the Microsoft web browser or client and the Netscape browser or client use cookies to create personal start pages.
With the increasing use of the Internet, many services have been developed to provide consumers (potential purchasers) with the ability to shop online to purchase products and services as well as to comparison shop. A merchant, using the Internet, may have a website, through which the merchant may advertise and/or sell his products to consumers. A merchant""s website may also be called a remote commerce site. A merchant may join a group of merchants who also have websites, form a virtual shopping mall or a local commerce site with these merchants, and provide information about and/or sell its products to consumers. The virtual shopping mall to which such a merchant belongs to may also be called a local commerce site. The virtual shopping mall or local commerce site would be a website which would allow a consumer to obtain information about and/or purchase products from various merchants all through one website, the virtual shopping mall or local commerce site.
Previous virtual shopping malls or local commerce sites have posed numerous problems for such merchants. For example, a merchant participating in a virtual shopping mall or local commerce site typically had to establish and had to maintain two separate websites: (1) one website, the merchant""s xe2x80x9cmall website,xe2x80x9d for consumers who were shopping for the merchant""s goods through the virtual shopping mall or local commerce site and (2) another website, the merchant""s xe2x80x9cdirect website,xe2x80x9d for consumers who were shopping for the merchant""s goods not through the virtual shopping mall or local commerce site, but rather directly through the merchant""s own website. Also, in previous virtual shopping malls or local commerce sites, a consumer attempting to obtain information about and/or purchase a merchant""s products through a virtual shopping mall was typically unable to access on-line shopping services from the merchant""s mall website in the quality and form that were very close to those directly accessible from the merchant""s direct website. For example, the consumer was typically unable to obtain real-time up-to-date price and inventory information from the merchant""s mall website, as opposed to the merchant""s direct website. In addition, in previous virtual shopping malls or local commerce sites, a consumer typically had to interact with a merchant""s mall website through an unintegrated and non-uniform interface. Also, in previous virtual shopping malls or local commerce sites, a consumer was typically unable to make use of value-added services offered by the virtual shopping mall or local commerce site, such as a shopping list, a gift registry, or a gift certificate that was redeemable at all the merchant websites participating in the virtual shopping mall.
For the foregoing reasons, it is seen that a technique for referencing remote commerce sites at a local commerce site is highly desirable.
According to the present invention, an electronic commerce method and system for referencing remote merchant sites at a local commerce site is provided. In an exemplary embodiment, the present invention provides a method for referencing remote commerce sites at a local commerce site. The local commerce site may also be a remote merchant integration server (RMIS). The remote commerce site may also be a remote merchant site. The remote merchant site may be a website of a merchant. The method can be implemented on an individual computer or a network of computers. The network of computers can be a local area network, a wide area network, an intranet, an extranet, an internet, or the Internet. Merely by way of example, the invention is illustrated using the Internet, but it is recognized that the invention can also be applied to personal computers, a local area network, a wide area network, an intranet, an extranet, and an internet.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the electronic commerce method and system for referencing remote merchant sites at a local commerce site includes the following: session managing a client request from a user client and a cookie stripped merchant response, where the session managing includes generating a processed remote merchant integration server (RMIS) response related to a merchant cookie and to the cookie stripped merchant response; traffic relaying the client request and a content transformed merchant response, where the traffic relaying includes generating a processed client request related to the client request, removing the merchant cookie from the content transformed merchant response, and generating the cookie stripped merchant response related to the content transformed merchant response; service integrating the processed client request; and content transforming a merchant response from the remote merchant site, where the content transforming includes generating the content transformed merchant response related to the merchant response.
In a specific embodiment, the session managing includes the following: receiving the client request directed to the remote merchant site from the user client; identifying from the client request if the user client is a first-time visitor to the local commerce site; setting a client cookie for the user client if the user client is a first-time visitor to the local commerce site, where the client cookie includes a unique identification code identifying the user client to the local commerce site; and retrieving from a cookie database a retrieved cookie associated with the user client and the remote merchant site, if the user client is not a first-time visitor to the local commerce site.
In a specific embodiment, the traffic relaying includes generating the processed client request related to the client request and sending the processed client request to the remote merchant site if the processed client request meets certain criteria. In a specific embodiment, the service integrating includes intercepting the processed client request if the processed client request meets certain criteria and performing a function corresponding to and in place of the processed client request if the processed client request meets certain criteria.
In a specific embodiment, the content transforming includes receiving the merchant response to the processed client request from the remote merchant site and transforming a reference in the merchant response, where the transforming includes generating the content transformed merchant response. In a specific embodiment, the content transforming includes receiving the merchant response to the processed client request from the remote merchant site and updating the merchant response, where the updating includes generating the content transformed merchant response.
In a specific embodiment, the traffic relaying includes removing the merchant cookie from the content transformed merchant response, where the removing includes generating the cookie stripped merchant response.
In a specific embodiment, the session managing includes the following: storing the merchant cookie in a cookie database in a storage location related to the remote merchant site and to the user client, where the merchant cookie corresponds to the remote merchant site and to the user client; converting the cookie stripped merchant response into the processed RMIS response; and transmitting the processed RMIS response to the user client.
Depending upon the embodiment, one or more of these advantages may be present. These and other advantages are described throughout the present specification and more particularly below. The invention will be better understood by reference to the following detailed description in connection with the following drawings.